Great Britain’s Lamin Deen and John Baines finished the day in 23rd place.

Jamaica, appearing in bobsleigh at the Winter Olympics for the first time since 2002, were last in 30th.

Winston Watts, 46, was part of Jamaica’s bobsleigh teams in 1994, 1998 and 2002, and this time teamed up with brake-man Marvin Dixon.

Watts had to contend with almost snapping off his helmet visor at the start of his second run, saying: “It’s just one of those things.

“I pulled my visor and with all the adrenaline it just broke, and I said: ‘Well, I’m not going to stop now, I’ll show the world I’ve got heart and I’ll take my sled down.'”

Asked about regular comparisons to the film ‘Cool Runnings’, featuring a Jamaican bobsleigh team, Watts added: “Cool Runnings is a very nice movie and it opened such a nice way for us, but a lot of people look at that movie and see us as jokers.

“We’re not jokers – we’re serious contenders. This is not an excuse but things didn’t go the way we wanted them to. But we have come here and we have gone out to compete the best we can and to show the world that we’re still alive.”

Competing 50 years to the day that Tony Nash and Robin Dixon won Olympic gold for Britain, the current GB pair of Deen and Baines know that finishing in the top 20 would be an impressive achievement.

Baines was only drafted into the two-man set-up last week following a career-threatening injury to former Olympic sprinter Craig Pickering.

“We haven’t had long to prepare and still have a few things to work on, but I’m sure we’ll be going quicker tomorrow,” Deen told BBC Sport.

The third run will begin at 1430 GMT on Monday. Only the top-20 sleds after that stage will be allowed to compete in the fourth and final run.

]]>http://www.caribpress.com/sochi-2014-russia-lead-two-man-bobsleigh-with-jamaica-last/feed/0IOC awarded the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in 2020 to Tokyohttp://www.caribpress.com/ioc-awarded-the-games-of-the-xxxii-olympiad-in-2020-to-tokyo/
http://www.caribpress.com/ioc-awarded-the-games-of-the-xxxii-olympiad-in-2020-to-tokyo/#commentsSun, 08 Sep 2013 02:06:50 +0000http://www.caribpress.com/?p=30765Tokyo received 60 votes to Istanbul’s 36 in the final round, with Madrid having been eliminated in the first round after losing a tie-breaker with Istanbul. Tokyo, which also bid for the 2016 Olympic Games, previously hosted the Games in 1964.

“Congratulations to the city of Tokyo on its election as host of the 2020 Olympic Games,” said IOC President Jacques Rogge, whose 12-year term in office comes to an end on 10 September. “Tokyo presented a very strong technical bid from the outset – and it needed to in competition with two such high-calibre bids from Istanbul and Madrid.

All three cities were capable of staging excellent Games in 2020, but in the end it was Tokyo’s bid that resonated the most with the IOC membership, inviting us to “discover tomorrow” by delivering a well-organized and safe Games that will reinforce the Olympic values while demonstrating the benefits of sport to a new generation.”

A golden ribbon in her hair, the bubbly Jamaican made it back-to-back Olympic titles in the women’s 100 meters Saturday, closing ground over the last 20 meters and leaning at the line to win in 10.75 seconds and edge American Carmelita Jeter by .03 seconds.

Fraser-Pryce became the first woman to repeat in the 100 since Gail Devers of the US in 1992 and 1996.

In Jamaica, though, they’ve been thinking about 1962 a lot of late. This weekend marks 50 years since the country became independent from Britain. Nice way to start the celebration.

“I want to tell Jamaica: Happy 50th anniversary,” Fraser-Pryce said.

Another Jamaican, Veronica Campbell-Brown, finished third for her second career 100-meter bronze. The country fell out of the running for a repeat of its sweep in Beijing after 2008 silver medalist Kerron Stewart failed to make it through the semifinals.

But don’t expect much complaining on the island, population 3 million, where the top industries are tourism and mining precious medals of the Olympic variety.

On Sunday, Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake will try to keep the gold coming for Jamaica, which has won six of the last seven gold medals awarded in the men’s and women’s Olympic sprinting events, including relays.

Given Bolt’s massive worldwide popularity, Fraser-Pryce sometimes takes second-billing in her home country. But those with a sense of the history there know what a big role women — Merlene Ottey and Campbell-Brown, who own a combined 15 Olympic medals — have played in turning sprinting into the national pastime. Fraser-Pryce will now vault to the top of that list.

Four years ago, she was relatively unknown, a 21-year-old who first stunned her country, then the world, on her way to Olympic gold. There was a setback in 2010, a six-month ban for using a painkiller to treat a toothache.

“I felt like, ‘What am I going to do? Everyone is going to think I’m a cheat,'” she said back then.

But she cleared her head, got back to work and showed, once again, a knack for peaking at exactly the right time.

What’s more, she won the 200 at the Jamaican Olympic trials, as well. Preliminaries for that race start Monday.

When the scoreboard finally flashed her in the No. 1 position, Fraser-Pryce dropped to the ground and cried. She ran to the stands, grabbed a Jamaican flag and paraded around with her teammate, Campbell-Brown, known as “VCB” on the island. She’s not finished in London yet, either. VCB is the two-time defending champion in the 200, where she’ll have Fraser-Pryce to contend with again, along with American Allyson Felix.

Felix, who considers the 100 her tuneup for the 200, finished fifth in 10.89 on Saturday.

She made the 100 meters after a week of tumult at US trials, finishing in a dead heat for the third and final spot. She faced a run-off against the teammate she tied, but got the spot when that teammate withdrew at the last second.

Jeter offered a great big smile after watching her visions of gold vanish by a sliver.

“Everyone wants to win, but I’m on the podium,” Jeter said. “I’m the only American on the podium.”

She’s also one of the biggest enigmas in American track — a late bloomer at age 32 and not much of a talker. She had been the favorite for this event until Fraser-Pryce, not on form through much of the early season, announced she was back with a 10.70 in Kingston last month.

Now, one of those questions any Olympian would love to be asked: Which gold means more?

“I’d have to say Beijing because I was inexperienced, I was young and I never believed I could. But I did,” she said. “This year I came into the championship as a favorite, which was a first for me, so I was a bit nervous. But I believed in myself.”

As magical a night as it was for the Jamaicans, the end of Fraser-Pryce’s win was met with relative silence — or maybe it just seemed that way compared to what had transpired over the previous hour or so.

This happened to be the day when the British finally had their big moment at their Olympics — actually one of their best days at any Olympics.

In rapid succession, the host country won three straight gold medals.

With Prince William (wearing a red Great Britain Olympic ballcap) and his wife, Kate, alongside Prime Minister David Cameron, Jessica Ennis finished out her stirring heptathlon victory by winning the 800-meter finale in 2 minutes, 8.65 seconds. She finished the seven-event heptathlon with 6,955 points, 306 ahead of Lilli Schwarzkopf of Germany.

About 20 minutes later, Greg Rutherford parlayed that momentum to come out of nowhere and win the long jump, his first medal in a major international meet with a leap of 27 feet, 3 1/4 inches (8.31 meters).

Then, about another 20 minutes later, it was Mo Farah — born in Somalia, training in Portland, Ore., competing for Britain — who brought down the house, sprinting to the finish in the 10,000 meters for a win over his American training partner, Galen Rupp, in 27 minutes, 30.42 seconds. Farah slapped both hands on his head three times, curved back toward the finish line, then continued a celebration that will long be remembered here.

“I saw Jess, and I knew she won the gold, and I wanted to win the gold, too,” Farah said. “As I came through the tunnel, people shouting my name, it was like someone gave me 10 cups of coffee. I knew I had to make something happen, I was just so buzzed up.”

A bit after the evening’s program was finished, hardly anyone in the 80,000-seat stadium had gone home. They waited to sing along to two tunes: “All You Need Is Love,” by the Beatles, and another one that might ring a bell: “God Save the Queen,” played while tears streamed down Ennis’ face during her medals ceremony.

“Massive relief,” Ennis said. “To come into this event with all that pressure, with everyone just saying, ‘Oh, you are going to win gold. You are going to win gold.'”

Hours before the British invasion, the stadium belonged to Oscar Pistorius, the “Blade Runner” from South Africa who made history simply by lining up in the men’s 400, the first amputee to compete in Olympic track. He booked a return date, as well — into the semifinals on Sunday — after finishing second in his heat in 45.44.

“I’ve worked for six years … to get my chance,” Pistorius said. “I found myself smiling in the starting block. Which is very rare in the 400 meters.”

]]>http://www.caribpress.com/fraser-pryce-wins-100m-gold-again/feed/0London Games to be first social media Olympicshttp://www.caribpress.com/london-games-to-be-first-social-media-olympics/
http://www.caribpress.com/london-games-to-be-first-social-media-olympics/#commentsSat, 16 Jun 2012 21:51:44 +0000http://www.caribpress.com/?p=15561LONDON _ Tweet this: The London Games will be the first Olympics told in 140 characters or less.

The London Games will be the most tweeted, liked and tagged in history, with fans offered a never before seen insider’s view of what many are calling the social media Olympics, or the “socialympics.”

Hash tags, (at) signs and “like” symbols will be as prevalent as national flags, Olympic pins and medal ceremonies. Some athletes may spend more time on Twitter and Facebook than the playing field.

Mobile phones have become smarter, laptops lighter and tablet devices a must-have for technology lovers _ meaning social-savvy fans, whether watching on television or inside the Olympic stadium itself, will be almost constantly online.

Organizers expect more tweets, Facebook posts, videos and photos to be shared from London than any other sports event in history. The 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver offered just a small glimpse of what’s to come.

“Vancouver was just the first snowflake,” said Alex Hout, the International Olympic Committee’s head of social media. “This is going to be a big snowball.”

Twitter is already braced for a surge of traffic. Launched in 2006, it has become a key outlet for sports fans to trade messages during live events.

Users sent 13,684 tweets per second during a Champions League match between Barcelona and Chelsea in April, a record volume of tweets for a sporting event _ busier even than the 2012 Super Bowl. Chances are that will be one of the records broken in London.

“It could be the 100-meter final or something unexpected,” said Lewis Wiltshire, Twitter U.K.’s head of sport.

At the last Summer Olympics in Beijing in 2008, Twitter had about 6 million users and Facebook 100 million. Today, the figure is 140 million for Twitter and 900 million for Facebook.

“In Sydney (2000) there was hardly any fast Internet, in Athens (2004) there were hardly any smartphones, in Beijing hardly anyone had social networks,” said Jackie-Brock Doyle, communications director of London organizing committee LOCOG. “That’s all changed. Here, everyone has all that and will be consuming the games in a different way.”

Later this month, at trials in Calgary for Canada’s Olympic track and field team, athletes will even wear Twitter handles on their bibs _ encouraging fans to send messages of support as they race.

Sponsors have also taken their Olympic campaigns online. Coca-Cola, Cadbury, Visa and BP are among those using Facebook to reach younger consumers. Samsung is even offering to paint the faces of Internet users with their national flag _ virtually, of course.

“They key difference from four years ago is that now almost everyone has a smartphone, which means everyone can participate in real time,” said Adam Vincenzini, an expert at Paratus Communications, a London-based PR and social media marketing agency. “You used to have to be sitting at your desk to access various social media platforms. Now you can have your phone or tablet on your lap while you watch, whether that’s at the pub or the stadium.”

The IOC, with 760,000 Twitter followers and 2.8 million on Facebook, will host live chats from inside the Olympic village with athletes, allowing the public to pose questions using social media accounts. It has already created an online portal, called the Athletes’ Hub, which will collate posts from their Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Under IOC rules, athletes and accredited personnel are free to post, blog and tweet “provided that it is not for commercial and/or advertising purposes” and does not ambush official Olympic sponsors and broadcasters. Social media posts should be written in a “first-person, diary-type format.”

What about spectators using their phones and iPads to take photos and video?

“There is no problem with photo sharing,” Hout said. “We encourage it. But monetizing is not allowed.”

“People are allowed to film. They’re allowed to do that on their phones,” he said. “The thing that we ask is that content is not uploaded to public sites.”

The reason is to protect the exclusivity of the broadcasters who shell out big money for the rights. NBC, for example, paid more than $1 billion for the U.S. rights to the London Games.

“We encourage the use of social media. We encourage athletes to engage and to connect,” Hout said. “There are some rules to follow, there’s no question about it. But we don’t police the fans, we don’t police the athletes. We don’t do that. What we do is we engage.”

LOCOG plans to announce new Olympic tie-ups with Twitter, Facebook and Google in coming days. Facebook is launching an Olympic initiative in London on Monday that will group teams, sports, athletes, broadcasters and others in one place.

However, LOCOG has drawn up strict rules for its employees and the 70,000 Olympic volunteers. They have been told not to share their location, any images of scenes in areas that are off limits to the public, or details about athletes, celebrities or dignitaries who they find themselves in contact with.

“We are not stopping people from using social sites,” Brock-Doyle said. “We say there are lots of things about your job _ procedures, places you’ll be and do _ that remain confidential. There are elements of your job you can’t share with wider groups of people.”

Athletes, too, will need to navigate the social media world carefully.

Australian swimmers Nick D’Arcy and Kenrick Monk have already been punished after posting photos of themselves on Facebook in which they cradled pump-action shotguns and a pistol in a U.S. gun shop.

The Australian Olympic Committee ordered them to remove the photos immediately. The swimmers have been banned from using social media for a month starting July 15 and will be sent home the day the Olympic swimming program finishes.

The British Olympic Association has offered advice to its own athletes, suggesting that “a few smiley faces and LOL’s (online speak for laugh out loud) will make you seem more approachable and encourage more people to talk and ask you questions.” What not to do: “Don’t get into disputes with your audience.”

British swimmer Rebecca Adlington, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and a leading medal contender in London, has spoken out about abuse she has received about her physical appearance from some users on social media sites. She has already blocked the worst offenders from being able to contact her, but insists she won’t stop using Twitter, where she trades dozens of messages a day with more than 50,000 followers.

“I’m insecure about the way I look and people’s comments do hurt me,” Adlington said in a message posted on Twitter.

While some athletes prefer to tune out from social media to concentrate on their competition, others embrace the opportunity to interact with their fans.

“Letting people know what I’m eating, how I’m sleeping, what the venues are like _ people want to know what we’re going through,” U.S. gymnast Jonathan Horton said. “They want to know what it’s like going through the experience and what we’re up to.”

All in 140 characters.

AP Sports Writer Nancy Armour in Chicago contributed.

]]>http://www.caribpress.com/london-games-to-be-first-social-media-olympics/feed/0Naming rights sought for Olympic Stadium in Londonhttp://www.caribpress.com/naming-rights-sought-for-olympic-stadium-in-london/
http://www.caribpress.com/naming-rights-sought-for-olympic-stadium-in-london/#commentsThu, 22 Dec 2011 05:10:52 +0000http://www.caribpress.com/?p=11712LONDON _ Seven months before the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Games, the naming rights for the Olympic Stadium are already up for grabs.

The Olympic Park Legacy Company said Tuesday it is seeking a sponsor to pay to put its name on the 486 million pound ($760 million) facility after the closing ceremony of the Paralympics on Sept. 9 _ only four months after it officially opens.

“(Naming rights) goes with the territory. We’d like to think very quickly there’s a new iconic name,” Olympic Park Legacy Company executive director Duncan Innes told The Associated Press. “We know the use of the Olympic brand has time limits to it.”

The sponsor is being sought to help cover the 95 million pound ($149 million) cost of converting the 80,000-seat stadium to a 60,000-seat venue after the Olympics.

“One of the advantages of the public sector retaining ownership of the stadium and the Olympic Park is that we have the ability to secure naming rights across the park, not just the stadium,” Innes said.

The OPLC hopes to have signed a deal by the time a tenant is announced in May. The downsized stadium is expected to reopen in 2014.

The stadium, which is to retain the athletics track, will host the world championships in 2017 and is due to stage the London leg of the Diamond League starting in 2014.

West Ham had been selected to take over the stadium after the 2012 Games, but the deal collapsed amid legal challenges from rival football clubs Tottenham and Leyton Orient.

Under a new process launched Tuesday, tenants can bid to rent the stadium for between 5 and 99 years.

“We have had interest from a couple of Premiership rugby clubs,” Innes said. “West Ham are on the record as saying they could well be interested (again) … If you look at winter sports, it’s limited to two because of the pitch damage. You could look at the football and rugby combo.”

The stadium would also be suitable for cricket and American football, which has played regular-season NFL games at Wembley in recent years and is exploring opening a London franchise.

“We have had very preliminary conversations with (the NFL),” Innes said. “It’s the sort of event that can fill the stadium and really bring some profile to it.”

]]>http://www.caribpress.com/naming-rights-sought-for-olympic-stadium-in-london/feed/0NBC posts $223 million 1Q loss on Winter Olympicshttp://www.caribpress.com/nbc-posts-223-million-1q-loss-on-winter-olympics/
http://www.caribpress.com/nbc-posts-223-million-1q-loss-on-winter-olympics/#commentsTue, 20 Apr 2010 03:59:17 +0000http://www.caribpress.com/?p=1355LOS ANGELES _ The tally is in: NBC lost $223 million on the Winter Olympics in the first quarter.

That’s slightly better than the most recent estimate of $250 million in losses. Advertising sales have improved a bit since NBC parent General Electric Co. made that projection in late January.

The Olympics did bring about $800 million in extra revenue to GE. But NBC had a lot of production and other expenses, including $820 million just to acquire the rights to carry the Vancouver Games on television and online. That expense was cited as the main culprit for the red ink.

Still, GE executives said the high-profile event had ratings that were 14 percent better than the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, for which NBC paid $613 million.

And GE Chief Financial Officer Keith Sherin said the Olympics provided a good platform to advertise its new 10 p.m. lineup and Jay Leno returning to “The Tonight Show” at 11:35 p.m.

Cable TV giant Comcast Corp. is seeking government approval to acquire a 51 percent stake in NBC Universal from GE. The Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department are expected to approve the deal with conditions that are not yet known.

]]>http://www.caribpress.com/nbc-posts-223-million-1q-loss-on-winter-olympics/feed/0US team to train at London university before gameshttp://www.caribpress.com/us-team-to-train-at-london-university-before-games/
http://www.caribpress.com/us-team-to-train-at-london-university-before-games/#commentsFri, 12 Mar 2010 06:20:23 +0000http://www.caribpress.com/?p=1091LONDON _ The U.S. Olympic team will prepare and train for the 2012 London Games at a university complex near the athletes’ village.

The University of East London announced Wednesday that about 600 U.S. athletes and 500 support staff will use its campuses, gyms and sports facilities, including a new $26.8 million indoor sports center that is expected to open next year.

While the athletes will stay in the Olympic Village, the staff will use the student dorms and set up their own sports science, medicine and media centers.

“This is a great opportunity for our athletes and staff to use these excellent facilities at UEL and to enter this partnership for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games,” U.S. Olympic Committee chief executive officer Scott Blackmun said in a statement.

American track and field athletes also plan to use facilities in the central city of Birmingham before the Olympics.

The new sports center includes a gymnasium and fitness center, two basketball and volleyball courts, two indoor soccer pitches, a sports cafe and covered seating for 400 fans.

“The facilities at UEL will ensure that our athletes are ready to compete,” said Mike English, the USOC’s chief of sport performance.

The UEL doesn’t have is a 400-meter running track or 50-meter pool.

“There are not a lot of them in east London,” said Paul Ford, the university’s director of Olympics and Paralympics operations. “But the local organizing committee have identified venues which are a 30-minute drive from the Olympic Park. The U.S. will have to share those facilities with other teams.”

Regarding USOC payment for use of facilities, Ford said the partnership with the university was “not financial” apart from the cost of renting some of the facilities.

“It is about Team USA leaving a legacy with the university and the community, working beyond the games,” he said. “It’s not just about the three weeks of the games.”

]]>http://www.caribpress.com/us-team-to-train-at-london-university-before-games/feed/0Skicross features familiar faces at Olympicshttp://www.caribpress.com/skicross-features-familiar-faces-at-olympics/
http://www.caribpress.com/skicross-features-familiar-faces-at-olympics/#commentsMon, 22 Feb 2010 00:37:44 +0000http://www.caribpress.com/?p=987WEST VANCOUVER, British Columbia _ Even after a decade spent blistering down the slopes in the downhill, Daron Rahlves still gets scared by the relatively pedestrian speeds of skicross.

Maybe it’s because in downhill, it’s just you and the mountain. In skicross it’s you, the mountain, a couple dozen twists and turns and three other racers determined to beat you to the finish line.

“You never know what’s going to happen in front of you and you need to be prepared for that and to adjust very quickly,” Rahlves said.

The sport was added to the Olympic program following the overwhelming popularity of snowboardcross, which made a splash at the 2006 Turin Games. The men race on Sunday, with the women hitting Cypress Mountain on Tuesday.

Yet there is a decided difference between the two, from the age of the average competitors to the uniform.

Snowboardcross is populated by mostly 20ish riders who dash down the hill in baggy snowpants and are known to drop in a funky board grab or two to spice things up.

In skicross, not so much.

Many of the top racers are like the 36-year-old Rahlves, former Alpiners who moved to skicross in part because they were on the back end of their careers or were simply lured in by the new opportunities skicross provides.

Including Rahlves and teammate Casey Puckett, six of the world’s top 12 ranked men in skicross are former downhill skiers in their 30s.

The women’s side is a little younger, but not much. Ashleigh McIvor, a 26-year-old Canadian, 20-year-old teammate Kelsey Serwa and 33-year-old Ophelie David of France are considered the top contenders.

While Alpine success can certainly help in skicross, it doesn’t guarantee a thing because skicross adds banked turns, blind jumps and racing near a competitor.

“There’s not that many guys that are good at this,” said Stanley Hayer of Canada, who is 36. “It takes a totally different skill set. You can be a great giant slalom skier and totally (stink) at skicross.”

Rahlves won 12 World Cup races between 2000 and 2006, but that success has never translated to the Olympics. He went 0-for-7 between Nagano, Salt Lake City and Turin, failing to crack the top five in any event.

He hopes to change that Sunday, and the unpredictable nature of skicross means anyone in the field can walk away with gold if they mix some good fortune with a whole lot of daring.

“I’m a scrapper,” he said. “I like to fight for it. I always like more challenge, when it’s harder and it’s more risky.”

]]>http://www.caribpress.com/skicross-features-familiar-faces-at-olympics/feed/0IOC says final agreement certain on London venueshttp://www.caribpress.com/ioc-says-final-agreement-certain-on-london-venues/
http://www.caribpress.com/ioc-says-final-agreement-certain-on-london-venues/#commentsThu, 18 Feb 2010 05:47:04 +0000http://www.caribpress.com/?p=918VANCOUVER, British Columbia _ Final agreement is expected within weeks on a cost-saving change in venue for two sports at the 2012 London Games.

London organizers proposed last year that badminton and rhythmic gymnastics be moved to Wembley Arena in northwest London rather than be held at a planned temporary venue near the Olympic Park in east London.

Scrapping the temporary facility would save organizers tens of millions of dollars.

The badminton and gymnastics federations have expressed concern over the travel time between the athletes’ village and the Wembley venue.

In a presentation to the International Olympic Committee assembly Thursday, London organizing committee chairman Sebastian Coe said the executive boards of the two federations will discuss the move in February and March.

“We are very close to a final agreement,” said Denis Oswald, who leads the IOC’s coordination commission for the London Games. “It’s only a question of weeks.”

Oswald indicated the outcome was a virtual certainty.

“We express our gratitude to these two federations who have agreed to move some of their events,” he said. “This will lead to a saving of several millions. We thank them for their understanding in these challenging economic times.”

London organizers have offered to house the athletes in hotels within walking distance of Wembley and find ways of shortening the travel journey.

The IOC also heard a final presentation from organizers of the Vancouver Olympics, a day before the opening ceremony, and a progress update on the next Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

“If it’s ever possible to say that you are ready, we are ready,” Vancouver organizing committee leader John Furlong told the assembly. “When the flame will arrive in Vancouver tonight, life as we know it is going to change.”

Dmitry Chernyshenko, the CEO of Sochi’s organizing committee, said construction was well under way for Russia’s first Winter Games, where virtually all the venues are being built from scratch.

Chernyshenko said Sochi had exceeded $1 billion in revenue from top-level domestic sponsors, a record for a Winter Olympics, and soon would begin signing second- and third-tier partners.

Gilbert Felli, the IOC’s executive director of the Olympic Games, said the Russians were on track overall.

“Our confidence is total, but the project is immense,” Fell said. “It’s the biggest project we’ve ever seen for the Winter Olympic Games. There is still a lot to do.”

On London, Oswald said city officials were considering reducing red lights to avoid traffic congestion for Olympic vehicles in 2012. Because of the city’s narrow roads, London will not have reserved “Olympic lanes” like other host cities.

Oswald said he was told by London Mayor Boris Johnson that the number of lights could be cut from 5,000 to 4,000 for the games, and the city could put up temporary pedestrian bridges over roads to keep traffic running.

Deighton said no final decisions had been made yet, and that London already has a system for regulating traffic lights to speed the flow of vehicles.

Oswald said the IOC was not “totally enthusiastic” about London’s proposal to use a single torch for the Olympic torch relay rather than the tradition of using several torches.

Deighton told the AP later that London agreed to drop the proposal and would stick with multiple torches.

International Association of Athletics Federations president Lamine Diack asked Coe _ who is an IAAF vice president _ whether the main Olympic Stadium will definitely remain a track and field facility after the games.

The 80,000-capacity stadium is designed to be reduced after the Olympics to a 25,000-seat venue, mainly for track and field. However, officials also are looking at the possibility of having a local soccer club as a tenant and using the stadium in England’s bid for the 2018 World Cup.

Coe said there was no dispute over the stadium, and that a final decision will be up to a newly created legacy company.

“We have always made it very clear that this would be primarily a track and field facility,” Coe said. “But we also made it clear we would explore options to house other sports in there, as long as track and field was the primary purpose.”

]]>http://www.caribpress.com/ioc-says-final-agreement-certain-on-london-venues/feed/0Some background to help enjoy Olympic curlinghttp://www.caribpress.com/some-background-to-help-enjoy-olympic-curling/
http://www.caribpress.com/some-background-to-help-enjoy-olympic-curling/#commentsThu, 18 Feb 2010 05:45:43 +0000http://www.caribpress.com/?p=916VANCOUVER, British Columbia _ Curling, an ancient ice sport that originated in Scotland, is making its quadrennial slide back into the public consciousness at the Vancouver Olympics.

Here is some information on the sport that made its Olympic debut in Chamonix, France, in 1924 but then disappeared again until Nagano, Japan, in 1998, where it was introduced for men and women.

_ Curling involves two teams sliding 19.1-kilogram (42-pound) granite stones toward a target of concentric circles on the ice. One game consists of 10 “ends” during which each member of two four-person teams slides two stones.

_ The closest stone to the center of the target earns a point. If a team has the two closest stones it earns two points, and so on. The team with the most points at the end of 10 ends wins.

_ After the stone is sent sliding down the ice, two players use brooms and sweeping motions to control it _ to make it go faster or slower, or to change its direction, or “curl.”

_ It’s serious. Although curlers like to have fun, counting the social aspect of the sport as a big part of the experience they love, curlers around the world have taken their fitness to a new level in preparation for these games. They have personal trainers, high-intensity training camps, sports psychologists and more. The teams that do not train hard off the ice are the ones that fall behind everybody else.

_ Behave yourself. This sport, dating to 15th-century Scotland, prides itself on a tradition of sportsmanship and good manners. The Chinese women didn’t talk to the media after Sunday’s practice in order to keep their focus, and it caused an uproar of sorts. On Monday, when they passed the media, they smiled and said “hi.”

_ The terminology is foreign to say the least. There’s broomstacking, the post-match ritual of heading to the lounge with the opponent for a friendly drink. (Traditionally, the winners buy the beers.) The “button” is the innermost circle within the “house” _ the area the stone must cross into to be in play.

And the “hog line” is a line that players can’t cross when releasing their rocks.

]]>http://www.caribpress.com/some-background-to-help-enjoy-olympic-curling/feed/0Jamaica not going to race in Olympic bobsled eventhttp://www.caribpress.com/jamaica-not-going-to-race-in-olympic-bobsled-event/
http://www.caribpress.com/jamaica-not-going-to-race-in-olympic-bobsled-event/#commentsSun, 07 Feb 2010 09:05:51 +0000http://www.caribpress.com/?p=877Jamaica’s bid to have its bobsled team compete in this month’s Vancouver Winter Olympics has come up short.

The list of nations who qualified and entered bobsled events at Vancouver, obtained on Wednesday by The Associated Press, failed to include Jamaica _ which had spent the last few weeks hoping that a slot opened in the field.

Those hopes were dashed, and on Wednesday, the Jamaicans acknowledged that all chance for 2010 was gone.

“We’ve been in battles for many, many years,” Chris Stokes, a founding member of the Jamaican bobsled team more than 20 years ago, told The AP in a phone interview. “This is one more. But it’s disappointing, no question about that. The guys worked really hard and did well. Not qualifying, it’s by no means a failure. It’s a step going forward.”

Officials from the Vancouver organizing committee are in the process of certifying those entries. There remains a chance more nations could be added, but for that to happen a sled that has entered must drop out.

The Jamaicans say they’re no longer waiting for that to happen.

“I am told there are no other options at this point,” team spokesman Stephen Samuels said.

They knew they were long shots to get into the Vancouver Games, but still, the notion of another team from the tiny island nation competing in these Olympics _ 22 years after the first Jamaican sled raced in the Calgary Games and sparked the idea for the movie “Cool Runnings” _ was enough to create a buzz.

Poorly funded and often racing with substandard equipment, the Jamaicans and driver Hannukkah Wallace managed to just sneak into the world top 50 rankings in four-man sliding, giving life to the chance of a Vancouver berth.

In the end, they needed to be a few spots higher.

“If we have to be the last small nation, then so be it,” Stokes said. “We’ll keep the fight.”

Wallace has said he wasn’t sure if he’ll stay with bobsledding, return to his roots in athletics, or possibly both. It’s not uncommon for bobsledders to take some time off, especially early in a new four-year Olympic cycle.

Stokes said he believes Wallace will try to return and lead the team again.

“This is Hannukkah’s third year driving,” Stokes said. “People in the sport would say you need five, seven, maybe even 10 years to get to a certain level. Given the timeframe of development that we had, we knew it would be difficult. And one of the challenges we have in Jamaica bobsleigh, while other nations have several drivers coming up, we can afford only one.”

The Jamaicans already say they’re not abandoning all plans for 2010 _ or 2014, for that matter.

As has been planned for months, the team will be at Whistler, if for no other reason than to experience what an Olympics are like, Stokes said.

“It’s very important for them to go and see,” Stokes said. “They’ll remember what the games are like and watch the start line of a four-man Olympic race and feel that adrenaline. I hope it acts as a motivation for them.”

And for the Sochi Games of 2014, Jamaica says it’s hopeful of adding more sleds, more drivers _ and intends to offer a coaching job to retired U.S. bobsled pilot Todd Hays, who saw his career end after a crash this season. Even before retiring, Hays lent the Jamaican federation equipment and expertise.

“There are many things we can, and we will, do to improve our chances,” Stokes said.